With so many actors getting into the music industry, we figured to help with your search and tell you about Matty Thomas & The Sex Symbols. For the month of September, they had a month-long residency at a popular restaurant in LA, Geghis Cohen. Their last show is on September 23, tickets here. We chatted with the guys from the band at their second show in LA. The group we chatted with consisted of Jack Dylan Grazer, Matty Thomas, Jack Martino and Chris Cariddi. Their dynamic on stage was energetic and everyone in the room, family and friends, having a good time cheering on the band made it a fun weekend night. So if you’re in LA for their last show, make sure you go have a good time!
How did you all meet and form this band?
I just really wanted to start performing and do live shows.I knew Jack, we went to school together and he’s incredible at guitar. So I hit up Jack and it was just us practicing music in his room for a while. Then Jack introduced Chris to us and Chris is awesome too.
So then we met and then we realized, damn we need a bassist. So first it was our friend Beck, but he’s gone now and now it is our beloved Jack who plays bass and is awesome and now we’re together playing shows every Friday in LA for the month of September.
When did you know you wanted to make music a career?
Freshman year of high school, I have always loved music, but freshman year of high school, I was like, I really wanna do this. Like, I want this to be my thing. I wanna pursue it. So I started on Instagram and like all that good stuff.
I was like, I really wanna start with forming a band life, so I hit up Jack and yeah made it happen.
This is your second show you’ve been doing at Genghis Cohen here in West Hollywood, CA. How do you guys feel performing, is it very natural?
Yeah. Our dynamic is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. We all blend really well on stage and off stage.
Your first single came out last month, talk about the meaning behind it and the creation process. How has the reception been?
I think it’s at like 6,000 something streams, which is 6,000 more streams than I ever imagined.. So it’s awesome. I’m super grateful for every bit of feedback coming my way. So I try to get a new fan every day.
And do you write the music all by yourself?
Yeah, so it’s me and my producer and we write together. Yeah, that was the first one. There’s a lot more to come.
Do you write with the rest of the band or mostly only you?
Chris and I have written together, the songs don’t really go anywhere. We have some pretty cool ideas for sure, but haven’t gotten to finishing some.
What was creating your first single like? What is the meaning behind it?
It’s about “What it’s like to fall in love” but the title was too long so I decided on “What It’s Like.” You also can’t see the full title if it’s up on any streaming service,. so I just shortened it to what it’s like, which I think is a cool name too. So I like it. Yeah. Like it, um, it’s a famous phrase, so good marketing.
How did you come up with the name for the band?
We all have different stories about how it came. The story for me and Chris is that Chris and my girlfriend, Morgan, all had a night out. Morgan was talking to Chris and was saying something like, and you’re the sex symbol of the band?
Like the drummer’s always like the number one sex symbol. Everybody knows that. Chris was like, “oh really?” And then the next day we had a rehearsal and Chris was like, yeah, Morgan said, I’m a sex symbol. That’s kind of how we came up with Matty Thomas & The Sex Symbols.
If you could set up a fan in a setting for them to listen to your music, what setting would that be?
I’ve always liked the idea of playing on a rooftop. Yeah. Like on the roof. Yeah. We actually thought about doing that, going on the roof of a school and doing it, but there’d be a lot of work.
If you could ECHO out one quote you’ve heard in life that you’d want to ECHO out to fans, what quiet would that be?
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Listen to What It’s Like now!